the hammer click, fall
upon empty shells. He had used up all the loads in Wright's gun. I heard
him curse as a man cursed at defeat. I waited, cool and sure now, for
him to show his head or other vital part from behind his bolster. He
tried to lift the dead man, to edge him closer toward the table where
the gun lay. But, considering the peril of exposing himself, he found
the task beyond him. He bent, peering at me under Wright's arm.
Sampson's eyes were the eyes of a man who meant to kill me. There was
never any mistaking the strange and terrible light of eyes like those.

More than once I had a chance to aim at them, at the top of Sampson's
head, at a strip of his side. But I had only two shells left. I wanted
to make sure. Suddenly I remembered Morton and his man. Then I pealed
out a cry--hoarse, strange, yet far-reaching. It was answered by a
shout. Sampson heard it. It called forth all that was in the man. He
flung Wright's body off. But even as it dropped, before Sampson could
recover to leap as he surely intended for the gun, I covered him, called
piercingly to him. I could kill him there or as he moved. But one chance
I gave him.

"Don't jump for the gun! Don't! I'll kill you! I've got two shells left!
Sure as God, I'll kill you!"

He stood perhaps ten feet from the table where his gun lay. I saw him
calculating chances. He was game. He had the courage that forced me to
respect him. I just saw him measure the distance to that gun. He was
magnificent. He meant to do it. I would have to kill him.

"Sampson, listen!" I cried, very swiftly. "The game's up! You're done!
But think of your daughter! I'll spare your life, I'll give you freedom
on one condition. For her sake! I've got you nailed--all the proofs.
It was I behind the wall the other night. Blome, Hilliard, Pickens, Bo
Snecker, are dead. I killed Bo Snecker on the way up here. There lies
Wright. You're alone. And here comes Morton and his men to my aid.

"Give up! Surrender! Consent to demands and I'll spare you. You can go
free back to your old country. It's for Diane's sake! Her life, perhaps
her happiness, can be saved! Hurry, man! Your answer!"

"Suppose I refuse?" he queried, with a dark and terrible earnestness.

"Then I'll kill you in your tracks! You can't move a hand! Your word or
death! Hurry, Sampson! I can't last much longer. But I can kill you
before I drop. Be a man! For her sake! Quick! Another second now--By
God, I'll kill you!"

"A